Hello! This is the Syndicate Network, the newsletter where we dive deep into the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of crypto.

Today’s top stories:

• 🔪 Mila Kunis-backed NFT project gets charged by the SEC.

• 🔥 FTX gets approval to sell off $3.4B of crypto assets.

• 👀 Nakamigos announces new 20K supply mint launching next week.

STONER CATS NFT GETS CHARGED BY SEC 🤝

After losing several battles against XRP and Grayscale, the SEC chair Gary Gensler, has finally scored a win against a little-known NFT collection called Stoner Cats.

Some background:

• Stoner Cats is an NFT collection that fundraised $8M for an animated series about house cats that become sentient after being exposed to their owner's medical marijuana.

• The animated series featured actors like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.

• The collection is up +267% following the SEC’s decision to charge its creators over the sale of unregistered securities.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• Stoner Cats have agreed to return the $8M they raised from investors and pay a $1M fine.

• SEC Commissioners Peirce and Uyeda released a statement stating that they disagree with the SEC’s actions against Stoner Cats.

• The SEC cited that the Stoner Cat creators posted tweets that encouraged people to purchase their NFTs.

Some thoughts: Gary Gensler must be fun at parties.

FTX GETS APPROVAL TO SELL $3.4B OF CRYPTO ASSETS 🔥

Here’s everything you need to know:

• FTX will be permitted to sell off its assets in a series of weekly batches, with an initial limit of $50M for the first week and $100M for subsequent weeks.

• FTX states that by hedging its assets, it can minimize potential losses. Additionally, by staking specific digital assets, it aims to produce stable returns for its creditors.

• FTX’s largest position is in Solana worth $1.1B, but most of it is locked and the entire position can’t be sold until 2028.

Some thoughts: When will a buyer step up and acquire FTX?

THE GREAT NAKAMIGOS CASH GRAB 🤑

NFTs are inherently emotional and when emotions get involved money can be made.

Today, we’re looking at Cloaks, the new MASSIVE NFT collection launched by the ETH NFT collection, Nakamigos.

Some context:

• Nakamigos is a 20K supply NFT collection that minted on ETH for free.

• Nakamigos promised no utility, has no Discord, and owning a Nakamigo gave you full IP rights to the NFT.

• They launched in March 2023 and reached an all-time high of 0.9 ETH.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• The Cloaks collection will have a supply of 20K and a mint price of 0.05 ETH. The team will raise an estimated 1,000 ETH (~$1.59M) from the mint.

• Owning a Cloak NFT will guarantee you commercial rights to your Cloak, with the goal of holders using their Cloak NFTs in merchandising, gaming, or other business ventures.

• The collection is set to mint next week on 9/21 with an unspecified number of Nakamigo holders being able to mint for free. There is no whitelist and anyone can participate in the public mint.

The community reaction:

Nakamigos is down a whopping -28.11% since the announcement, and the community is pissed.

Some thoughts: Expect an eventual bounce from the Nakamigos collection leading up to the Cloaks mint next week.

Quick News

FTX granted court approval to sell $3.4B crypto assets, including Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.

The EU parliament overwhelmingly approved DAC8, a cryptocurrency tax reporting rule, to track and assess transactions.

Bybit will withdraw from the UK due to new marketing rules enforced by the FCA.

Swiss fintech Taurus partners with Deutsche Bank to offer digital asset custody and tokenization services.

Polygon proposes changes for its 2.0 upgrade, including a network of interconnected Layer-2 chains and a new native token POL.

P.S. - We’re curious… Reply to this email and let us know your thoughts on today’s edition and how we could improve!

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or make financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.